Amazon enters Square territory

The online retailer announced Amazon Local Register, a mobile point-of-sale service combining a mobile app with a secure card reader -- similar to Square -- that lets small businesses process digital transactions.

The big draw for businesses would be Amazon's rate of 2.5% for every swiped transaction. Both Square and PayPal's point-of-sale services offer rates of 2.7%. Amazon is also launching a promotion that drops the rate to 1.75% if customers sign up before October 31.